1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical connector, and more particularly to an electrical connector having a detachable pick-up device for facilitating picking up and positioning by a vacuum suction nozzle or the like.
2. Description of Related Art
Vacuum transfer and placement mechanisms are well known in the electronic assembly art and are used for retrieving electronic components, such as connectors, from a supply source and transferring them by applying negative air pressure to the connectors and placing them onto a printed circuit board in a preselected position for soldering. Typically, such mechanisms are provided with a transfer arm having a suction end to suck up the connector. As most connectors are devoid of flat, smooth, large surface fit for engaging with the suction end, pick-up devices of every variety of form are designed for various connectors to provide such flat, smooth surfaces for receiving suction by vacuum transfer assemblies.
Generally, every connector should have a mounting face to be mounted to a printed circuit board (hereafter referred to as PCB), and a mating face for engaging with a mating connector, which can extend either parallel to or perpendicularly to the mounting face. Wherein a connector having a mating face parallel to its mounting face is referred to as “vertical connector”, and a connector having a mating face perpendicular to its mounting face is referred to as “right angled connector”. Pick-up devices for the so-called “vertical connector” are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,396,245, 5,249,977, 5,688,133, and 6,439,901. Those pick-up devices are all attached to mating faces of connectors to cover mating openings therein and make top surfaces thereof vacuum mechanism engagement surfaces. However, this kind of pick-up device is not fit for the so-called “right angled connector”.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,210,225 discloses a pick-up device for a “right angled connector”. The connector conwrises a base and a projection projecting forwardly from the base. The base has an under face serving as a mounting face, and the mating portion has a front face serving as a mating face and defining a mating opening therein. The pick-up device is attached to a top of the base to provide en upward vacuum mechanism engagement surface. However, as the pick-up device only coven the top of the base, a center of the engagement surface it provides horizontally deviates from a center of gravity of the connector, which causes a tilt of the connector while being picked up or transferred by a vacuum mechanism. That results in an unstable engagement between the connector and the vacuum mechanism and an unreliable transfer operation. Otherwise, as the mating face of the “right angled connector” is perpendicular to its mounting face, terminals in the mating opening thereof is prone to being hit by foreign matter if there is no cover or the like to protect them.
Therefore, it is desired to provide a pick-up device for a “right angled connector” which performs a stable engagement with a vacuum mechanism and which provides a cover portion to shield a mating opening of the connector from foreign matter.